Leaps of Faith
by TakerReigns
Summary: Lita retired from the WWE in 2006, but after a call from their creative team in 2009 she decides to sign a temporary contract to return. At the same time, the Hardy Boyz are facing new challenges. Is there more to her decision to return than storyline? Does she have unfinished business to take care of? Story request by Bajor10
1. Chapter 1

**The Beginning**

I've known Jeffrey Nero Hardy for years. I met him and his brother, Matt, at an indy wrestling show, and got to know them better after. Eventually, I even started training with them and doing events at their promotion, OMEGA.

After a while, Matt asked me out. He seemed like a nice enough guy at the time, but still, I said no. We were so different. He was so serious. Nothing was more important to him than him and Jeff succeeding in wrestling. I had other things in my life that I loved, music, animals. I was a free spirit. Matt wasn't.

My name is Amy Dumas, and eventually, I went from working for Paul Heyman's ECW promotion in Pennsylvania to working for the WWF, travelling around the world. When I did, I was reunited with the Hardy brothers. A few months after my debut, the creative team decided to make me part of a stable with The Hardy Boyz, and we were known as Team X-Treme.

Being part of Team X-Treme was amazing. There was nothing the three of us wouldn't try, especially not when we were together. We had a lot of fun, and I felt like I could say or do anything as long as I had one or both Hardy Boyz at my side. We were three of the biggest risk-takers on the roster, often badly bruised, but it never stopped us from going out there and putting on a great show for the fans.

Things started to get weird between us when, as part of the storyline, I was put in a relationship with Matt. They didn't tell us what the end game with us was, but ultimately, it was to turn the brothers against each other. As time passed in the relationship, Matt's character was supposed to get controlling, jealous, and even hit my character, always claiming it was an accident. Jeff, being the little brother who would never do something like this, was always there to comfort me. This made Matt more jealous, and it set up a rivalry and a match at Vengeance 2001, which I had to referee. The following day, due to the scripted ending that went in favor of Jeff, Matt declared our relationship and Team X-Treme over, before the match against me and Jeff, which we lost.

Every night during that very difficult storyline, Jeff comforted me. He was my best friend. No matter what happened in the storyline, Jeff was there for me at the end of the day. It was great. Over the years, it was hard, sometimes Jeff would leave WWF, which turned into WWE, and go to a newer company called TNA. When he was gone, I would miss him. In 2006, he had come back to WWE, which made me ecstatic, because I had decided to retire from the company. I had sustained one of the most serious injuries a female wrestler had ever gotten and come back from it and decided not to push my luck.

I did different things for the next two years, always keeping in touch with Matt and Jeff, but not seeing them as much. They were busy with their wrestling careers, and I was getting into my music. The way my contract with WWE worked, I was still available to them to call on for appearances, I just wasn't an active roster diva anymore. In December 2008, I got a call from WWE Creative asking if I'd be willing to come back and make appearances for a while. I decided to meet with them.

When I met with them, they filled me in on what was happening with the Hardy brothers. Jeff was the WWE Champion. Matt was going to lose the ECW title before the Royal Rumble. They wanted me to come in because "accidents" kept happening to Jeff. A car accident, getting jumped in the stairwell, and there were more planned. They wanted me to come back in for a few months to be at Jeff's side, to help support him through all the hard times, including Matt turning against him again. I agreed as long as they kept my return under wraps. I wanted my return at the Royal Rumble to be a surprise. They agreed and I signed the temporary contract.

I waited out the next few weeks, not telling the boys anything about what I knew was going on in their careers or what was coming. The night of the Royal Rumble, I was dressed, ready to go, and in the front row of the audience with a hat and jacket on to try to hide who I was. When Jeff's match started, I took off my jacket.

The match went back and forth with Vickie and Chavo Guerrero interfering for Edge. Jeff was handling it fine. It was when Matt made his way down the ramp I knew I would have to go very soon. He made it look like he and Jeff were both going to attack Edge with chairs. That's when I hopped the barricade, losing the hat, and slid into the ring.

I pulled the chair out of Matt's hand just before he could hit Jeff and knock him out. Vickie turned me to face her. I tossed the chair out of the ring and hit her with a Twist of Fate. Matt really looked at me then.

"What are you doing here, Lita?" he asked me.

"I'm not gonna let you hurt him, Matt. I'm not gonna let your jealousy cost him what he's earned."

"How are you gonna stop me?"

I ran towards him, jumped, wrapped my legs around his neck and shifted my weight, hitting him with a Litacanrana. When I got back to my feet, Jeff was just looking at me. I saw what he didn't. Chavo, behind him with a chair, ready to swing.

"Jeff, look out!"

Jeff turned around and hit Chavo with the Twist of Fate. I went up on the top turnbuckle and hit him with a Litasault for good measure. When I got up, I noticed that Jeff was on the other side of the ring, up on the turnbuckle, getting ready for the Swanton on Edge. Matt looked like he was going to go knock him off the ropes, I grabbed onto him and did a drop toehold on him, making him go face first into the mat. Jeff got off the Swanton Bomb and pinned Edge, retaining his title.

Vickie started screaming, Chavo limped over to her to try to comfort her. Edge rolled out of the ring to Vickie and Chavo. That left Matt, Jeff and I in the ring. I was at Jeff's side. Matt was across from us, glaring at us.

"She can't protect you forever, Jeff," Matt said with venom in his voice.

"He didn't ask me to. But since I was here, why not help out an old friend?"

Jeff hugged me to him.

"But you wouldn't help me! I thought I meant something to you once?!"

"Are you serious? After what you've put both of us through? And you were gonna try to do it again to Jeff!"

"Matt, why?" Jeff finally found his voice.

Matt just turned around and left. I raised Jeff's hand in victory to the crowd. They went nuts. I'd heard the talk in the crowd. Nobody wanted Edge with that title over Jeff. Jeff put his arm around me and I turned him to face me. When I could look up into his eyes, I pulled his face to mine and kissed him, right in the ring.

"I love you, Jeff. That's why I came back," I whispered to him.

He stared at me in awe and led me backstage, his arm never leaving my shoulders. Matt was backstage waiting away from the cameras when we got back there. He gave the two of us a look of surprise when we got back there.

"So was that kiss storyline, Amy?" Jeff whispered into my ear.

"No. That and what I said was reality. I love you, Jeffrey Hardy, and this gave me a reason to come back and tell you," I said as I turned his face to kiss him again.

"You have no idea how long I've hoped you would say those words to me," he replied.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"You know I'm not good with speaking to people. And you never showed any interest, so I didn't want to ruin our friendship."

"You wouldn't have. I love you and I have for a long time. It's why I agreed to come back for the next few months."

"Few months?"

"Yeah, temporary contract. It would give me a chance to be around you again," I said as I smiled at him.

"I like the sound of that," Jeff said as he pulled me close to him. "I like the idea of us being together, in-ring and out."

"Me too, Jeff. I've waited too long to find out if you wanted me the way I wanted you. Now that I know that you do, I don't want to waste any of the time we have together."

"We won't. I promise."


	2. Chapter 2

**Unforgivable**

As we got closer to Wrestlemania XXV, things got worse. Jeff did ultimately lose the WWE title to Edge, but the storyline with Matt was getting out of control. Matt was put in a Money in the Bank qualifying match against MVP, which he lost. Later that same night, when Jeff had his qualifying match for the Money in the Bank match for Wrestlemania, Matt came out and got him disqualified out of jealousy.

Still, nothing was worse than when Jeff's house burned down a few days after the incident with the Money in the Bank qualifying matches. He was out with me, getting tattoos at our friend Shannon Moore's tattoo shop when the fire broke out. Jeff's dog Jack died in the fire. Even with all the things Jeff lost in the fire he couldn't replace, paintings, poetry, pictures, Jack's death was the worst for him.

The fire was declared an accident due to faulty wiring and, while I was upset that Jack had died since I love animals, I was more relieved that Jeff wasn't in the house. We'd been together over a month and it was everything I thought it would be and more. We were so happy together and the thought of losing him made my heart hurt. This wasn't some random guy I'd met a few weeks before I'd started dating him. I'd known Jeff for about a decade.

Things got worse a few days after the fire. I was with Jeff at a Smackdown taping. We didn't know exactly was going to happen, but we knew that Matt was going to confront Jeff about something. The creative team decided not to tell Jeff what it was about because they wanted an authentic reaction to what Matt was going to go out and say. Neither of us liked the possibilities of where that would go, but we stayed by one of the screens backstage and watched.

Matt went out to the ring and started talking about how the fans didn't care about him anymore, that no matter what Jeff did, they always asked about him, not Matt. Clearly a sibling jealousy angle. He started talking about the accidents, the car accident, Jeff getting jumped in the stairwell, the accident with Jeff's pyro before the Royal Rumble, and finally, Matt brought up the house fire. As if that wasn't enough, Matt not only took responsibility for all of the accidents, but he held up a dog collar and started talking about it was a gift he wanted to give to Jeff.

Jeff ran off, rushing to the ring without his music. I followed after him. I stayed on the outside of the ring, deciding to let him handle his brother unless he looked like he needed my help. He snatched the microphone from Matt's hand. He paced back and forth in front of him, trying to figure out what to say to him. Finally, he spoke.

"This is so hard to believe. You're behind all this. The stairwell? The car crash? You tried to blow me up. I never thought my own flesh and blood could be capable of something so horrible.

"Don't bring up my house, man. Don't bring up my dog, man. Don't bring up everything I love. You wanna hurt me, dontcha? You wanna hurt me dontcha, Matt? You hate me, Matt, dontcha? You don't love me, you hate me!

"But you know what, Matthew Moore Hardy? You hate yourself more than you can ever know. Because you're sick, you're twisted, you're demented…"

Jeff backed away from Matt before continuing. I felt for him because his pain, his anguish was all real. I couldn't believe that Matt would agree to this storyline even if it would advance his career. And I'm sure Jeff never thought Matt would agree to a storyline to advance his career if it meant causing him real emotional pain.

"And so am I," Jeff finished as he turned and speared Matt to the mat.

Jeff started beating on Matt in the ring. The crowd went wild. Matt didn't fight back, he just blocked his face until he was able to worm his way off the apron. When Matt fell off the apron, I started hitting him. The crowd continued to go wild. I got off of him, thinking more about Jeff, letting him worm his way out of there.

"No, no Jeff," Matt started. "I don't wanna fight you, Jeff. I'm sorry, Jeff. You are my brother, Jeff."

Matt kept begging for forgiveness and telling Jeff he loved him. Jeff was starting to show what the storyline was taking out of him. I slid into the ring as he fell to his knees by the ropes as he listened to Matt. I put my arms around him to comfort him. Jeff sat by the ropes with his head on his knees and I sat behind him, comforting him as much as I could. I could feel the pain radiating off of him and I wasn't sure how long it would take him to forgive Matt for this.

Jeff and Matt were set up in a match for Wrestlemania. A week after the match was set up it was decided it would be an extreme rules match. In other words, anything goes, and even I could interfere without Jeff getting disqualified. Jeff didn't want the match. Everyone in the WWE wanted their Wrestlemania moment, but considering this moment was making a rift between him and his brother, Jeff really didn't want it.

Leading into Wrestlemania, I was the one who was talking to Gil Hardy. He knew about the match between Matt and Jeff and didn't understand what was going on. He wanted to talk to Jeff, but Jeff was so hurt over Matt he couldn't bring himself to talk to his dad. Gil wanted reassurances that the whole thing was a storyline and it wasn't tearing the boys apart. I told him the only thing I could, Jeff didn't know about the storyline ahead of time, so he'd been withdrawing from Matt. He asked how bad the Wrestlemania match was going to be. I pointed out to him with it being extreme rules, anything could happen.

Finally, in the week leading into Wrestlemania, Jeff talked to his dad himself. Even though his dad pleaded with him to pull out of the match, Jeff told him he couldn't. He explained the only way that the rivalry between him and Matt to end now was to see it through to the end. Jeff told his father he never wanted this to begin with but there was no way out of it now. Gil asked Jeff, if either me or him talked to Matt, to try to get Matt to talk to him. Matt was avoiding Gil's calls.

When the match at Wrestlemania started, I was at ringside, having entered with Jeff. Once the bell rang, Jeff slapped Matt in the face and then tackled him to the mat. He started a brutal assault on Matt and the only way for Matt to stop it was to fight back. Things were harsh, but for the most part it was Jeff dominating the match. When I could, if I saw that Matt was going after him, I grabbed him and distracted him to give Jeff the advantage. Ultimately, Jeff went for a high-risk move off of a ladder that cost him the match. Matt moved out of his way before he hit him and when he got back up he put his head into a chair and hit him with what he called the Twist of Hate, with Jeff's neck and head still in the chair.

After Matt got up from pinning Jeff I got into the ring and hit Matt with the Twist of Fate followed by a Litasault. I was infuriated by the whole situation and couldn't believe he had done something so wrecklessly dangerous to his own brother. I could tell Matt was pissed off that I attacked him and didn't care. The fans loved it. Matt rolled out of the ring and I went to Jeff, helping him get out from the chair. The trainers came to check him and I helped him to the back.

Leaving the arena, neither Jeff nor I spoke to Matt. We were both pissed off at him. His jealousy had come between their relationship as brothers and our relationship as friends. After the event, I took Jeff back to our hotel and made sure he was okay.

"I'm good, Amy. Thank you," he said as he pulled me to him and kissed me.

"Are you sure? I can set up an ice bath for you," I offered.

"I'd rather go to the Wrestlemania party. I don't want to let Matt keep us away from it. After all the work I've done in the last year, you know this is when we all get to kick back and chill," he replied.

I looked at him. He was right. The party after Wrestlemania was _the _party of the year in the WWE. The only one that came close in comparison was Summerslam. And Jeff had had a great year, he deserved to be at that party.

"Are you sure you can handle being around Matt?"

"Screw Matt. I wanna have fun with my friends," Jeff said.

"I'd rather not screw Matt, thanks," I said laughing.

"I hope you don't want to. You're mine," Jeff said laughing.

"And you're mine," I said, pulling him off the bed. "Come on. Let's get you dressed."

I helped him pick something that was him but still appropriate for the company party and we left. When we got to the party, we were the talk of the party. People still weren't sure whether or not our relationship was kayfabe or what. They knew I came back to be at his side and I'd be back for a few months, that was all.

We had a great time at the party. Edge, aka Adam, spent the night joking around with Jeff about my return. They hadn't had much time to talk about it since I had come back. Things always move fast and forward in the WWE. It was great to be around my friends again. Jeff and I avoided Matt all night. The fans who were lucky enough to be at the party realized that of all the WWE storylines, the Hardy Boyz storyline was bleeding into their actual lives. Still, we all had a good time.

At the end of the night, Jeff and I went back to our hotel room. I brushed out his hair and kissed all of his newly formed bruises until I found my way back to his lips. He pulled me to him, touching me, exploring my body. In the end, we fell asleep in a mess of tangled sheets and sweat, completely satisfied and content in each other's arms.

****AUTHOR'S NOTE: SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG, I'VE BEEN SICK FOR THE LAST FEW WEEKS. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I'VE TURNED ON MY COMPUTER FOR MORE THAN FIVE MINUTES IN THREE WEEKS. **


End file.
